Hi, servus and welcome back to some messy grunge and texture fun!
This time I entered my studio after what feels like ages without holding a brush or palette knife - and ages it has been! So even if I knew I was up to having some creative fun, I also knew I hadn't been in touch with my creative mojo for quite a long time. So how do you tackle this? What are good ways to make sure you'll be ending up enjoying yourself and the process?
One way that really works for me is to gather "favourites" - designs, materials, colours and objects that make me feel good by just looking at them. So I picked stencils without thinking at all about how these would go together or create a specific theme. I went for a mix of paints, pastes, brushes, palette knives I thought I might use and in my pants' pockets I found some used rough garden string in black and white, nicely weathered during the winter (as it had been outside, holding protective jute bags in place). When clearing my desk I also kept some tiny snippets of Asian text paper strips from an earlier project for a possible use.
Also a good way to take off any pressure of having to succed in creating something "special and precious" is to use up old paints and pastes that have already started to dry out a little but can still be applied through stencils, cheap paints and media and some low price substrate to work on like a cheap canvas or some left over cardboard.
But let's take a look at the stencils I've used:
S861 - Abstract Marks - by Jeanne Oliver
L455 - Wolf - by Roxanne Coble
L792 - ATC Mixup Missigman #1 Art Marks - by Rae Missigman
SC-10-2016 - October 2016 StencilClub Mary Beth's Private Collection 16.4 - by Mary Beth Shaw
L433 - Clustered Leaves - by Cecilia Swatton
S621 - Totally Triangular - by Wendy Aikin
There's one more stencil in the picture, but I didn't use that one in the end. It is always good though to have more stencils to choose from.
I started without having any idea of a theme or look in mind. I only knew I wanted to go by a reduced colour scheme, having black, grey, beige and white as my main colours and adding yellow, maybe orange or rusty tones later. The bright pink somehow demanded to be used during the process.
But let's start at the beginning! Breaking the clean white of a canvas can be an intimidating moment. Especially when you start without any concept for your piece of art.
So what I did was use some cheap grey outdoor acrylic paint from a dollar store that needed some good stirring. For that I used the handle of a long old soft brush. When I started scraping off the excess paint afterwards, I found there was still so much of it left on the brush handle, that I decided to scrape that onto the canvas, twisting and turning the handle during the process. I actually liked the result!
Next I masked a stripe to add some slightly transparent yellow acrylic paint to with a palette knife.
I heat dried everything thoroughly, before I went on.
Using a second stencil on top of another is a great way to create a textured shape in one go. I used the large open oval shape from Rea Missigman's "ATC Mixup" stencil on top of the "Totally Triangular" stencil and applied carbon black acrylic paint using a stencil brush.
So far, so good!
Honestly, one of the main goals for this project was to experiment and use the stencils in different ways.
For example, I applied thick white Gesso (that had already started to dry out a little) with a small bristle brush in random circular motions through the oval and circle shapes of my stencil. This way the added shapes looked random and loose, but still had a sharp outline. I heat dried, then put the stencil back in place again and added some black lines, using the stencil as a mask so the lines' ends would line up with the previously added shapes.
I also had a small pot of black modeling paste I wanted to use up (or at least save from drying out almost half full) and I decided to use that alongside the lovely "Fallen Leaves" stencil. I applied that to the left side of the canvas and as there was a lot of paste left on the stencil afterwards, I rubbed that residue off the stencil and onto the bottom right corner of my canvas using a baby wipe.
I found this is a great way to not waste any paint residue and get a soft fading effect at the same time.
You can see it close up in this picture, which shows me using some dry herbage (or moss?) to "stamp" with. Remember, I was in experimenting mode...
If the outcome of the project isn't of much importance, this is also a great time to practice particular techniques. I used the opportunity to get a bit better at using modeling gel for example. But first I applied some (also a bit dried out) rust paste using the geometrical design on the "Wolf" stencil.
As you can see I had previously added part of the "Fallen Leaves" design using the baby wipe technique in this corner too. I let the rust paste dry a little (but not fully) and then sprayed on some orange acrylic paint. I created some drip lines and while these were left to dry, I applied the garden string using the modeling gel and a fine tip palette knife. Later I carefully heat dried everything, before I added some white spray paint on top.
At that point I found my canvas needed its "star" - my beloved wolf (one of my all-time favourites...see HERE). Instead of stenciling it in place with white paint, I used the stencil to draw the outlines using a black archival ink fine tip pen and later filled in the paint using a small bristle brush. I also added some spying eyes (from the same stencil) for a bit of a mystery touch.
Before I went to sleep and let my canvas sit for a while, I also added more white spray paint in some spots where I found I had added too much texture in black. That was followed by some tiny yellow dots (through the stencil from the October2016 StencilClub set) and more yellow (scraped on, using a palette knife).
I found my garden string looked like a cloud - so I added some falling rain here and there. Now a story started to unfold!
Finally I added some handwritten text in spots that I found still needed more interest. I adapted a quote from a very successful Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) song from the Swiss band Grauzone (Grey Zone) that goes:
Ich möchte ein Eisbär sein (I want to be a polar bear)
im kalten Polar. (in the cold polar circle)
Dann müsste ich nicht mehr schrei'n (then I wouldn't have to cry anymore)
Alles wär so klar! (Everything would be totally clear)
Of course I had to change the "Eisbär" (polar bear) into "Eiswolf" (polar wolf), but the text definitely tells the story, doesn't it? And those who know the song, know that the famous refrain says that "polar bears never need to cry!" - so there's some poetic depth in it, don't you think? ;)
I didn't like the plain white wolf body, so he got some red and white banded Angora hip warmer (at least that was my husband's interpretation, which I am happy to go by)...
All in all the canvas maybe lacks in consequence compositionwise, but I really loved where this journey took me and had a lovely time messing in my studio. Taking some close ups and editing these on my lap top made me realise, I love a lot of the detail shots and can well image these as little paintings or canvases on their own...so this canvas also is a kind of catalogue for further inspiration and directions to explore creatively. And there's loads of yummy texture and layers whereever you look! But take a look yourselves!
Thanks so much for stopping by!!!!
Hugs and happy creating!
Claudia
xxx
